Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Last year I visited Montréal for the first time and ate some fabulous and delicious food. This year I had the opportunity to visit two more times and wanted to share some of my favourite spots. Here is a slide show of my Montréal eating adventure.

Monday, February 19, 2007

It starts with a glance……or perhaps a touch.It could be a sound……or a scent.Sometimes it begins with a taste.It entices and sometimes teases. It can be a glimpse of joys yet to come. It can be spicy, it can be hot, but most importantly (at least this time) seduction must be sweet.

The theme for this months Sugar High Friday, SHF 28 is Sweet Seduction. This month, I decided to make two desserts. The first, being a dessert to seduce me and the second, to seduce someone else. Both desserts are incredibly easy. The first dessert is an orange salad made up of blood oranges, cara cara oranges and navel oranges. Pick good quality oranges and segment them. This second picture shows their individual colours which are intense and amazing. Oranges are currently at their peak. Apparently it is easy to seduce me, just give me a fresh simple orange salad.

The second dessert is a chocolate creameaux. Chocolate creameaux has a wonderful silky mouth feel much like pots de crème, but there is no baking involved. Simply make a cup of crème anglaise and pour it over 100 g. of chopped up dark chocolate. For easier mixing, place the chocolate in a food processor and pour the hot crème anglaise on top. Let the custard melt the chocolate for a few minutes before turning on the food processor. Process or mix the chocolate mixture until it is smooth. Pour into small cups or ramekins and let it set in the refrigerator for an hour before serving. This can be made a day in advance and is incredibly easy. Garnish with whipped cream, chocolate or raspeberries. It is one of those desserts that will impress and seduce just about any chocolate lover. Sadly, this would probably seduce me as well.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

I learned about tonka beans last year during my first trip to Montrèal. I bought some from Olives et Épices, a fantastic specialty store selling spices, oils, vinegars and a host of other wonderful ingredients. The store, and pastry friends, instructed me that tonka must be heated (eg. through infusion in a cream or baked in a cake). I experimented with tonka crème brulèe and tonka ice cream, and although good, neither product stood out for me. During the past few years, I have seen tonka used in the desserts of several fine restaurants, both in Toronto and during my travels: I started to believe tonka had become trendy. I hadn't appreciated the flavour of tonka until I returned to Montrèal in January. On the trip, I had an amazing tonka pot de crème (served with an orange salad and cocoa nibs) at la Montèe de Lait. I liked the dessert so much that I thought I would recreate it at home. The result turned out very well, and I am enthusiastic to share the recipe. Instead of garnishing the pots de crème with cocoa nibs, I used a 70% dark chocolate, which also worked well. If you want to try the recipe with cocoa nibs, check out Whole Foods Market: they sell small bags of it.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)1. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 3/4 cups of the light cream with the grated tonka bean until cream is scalding. Do not boil. Remove from heat and set aside.2. Beat egg yolks until they are pale in colour. Beat in the sugar, salt, and the remaining 1/4 cup of the light cream.3. Gradually beat the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly.4. Strain the mixture into a large measuring cup for easier pouring5. Place pots de crème cups in a large pan with sides high enough to create a water-bath. Divide the mixture evenly into the cups. Pour hot water in the pan to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Cover the pan with aluminum foil or cover with the pot lids. Place in oven and bake at 350°F (180°C) until the custard is just set around the edges, approximately 30-35 minutes.6. Carefully remove the pan from the oven. Leave pots de crème in pan in water bath, and allow them to cool to room temperature. Remove the pots de crème from water bath; cover them with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.7. Serve chilled pots de crème with segmented oranges and cocoa nibs or 70% chocolate.